Empowerment and the Latino Community: Does Consciousness Make a Difference?

Gutierrez, Lorraine

Empowerment theory suggests that changes in beliefs and attitudes contribute to the participation of individuals in social change. It assumes that in order for individuals to work for the collective good, they must develop a sense of critical consciousness. This study uses experimental methods to test the application of this theory to the Latino community. Participants were a random sample of 73 Latino undergraduates at a large midwestern university. Twenty-three students participated in a control condition and were asked about their experiences as Latinos at the school. Fifty students were assigned to one of two experimental focus groups, one designed to arouse participants' feelings of ethnic identification and one to arouse ethnic consciousness. Results suggest there is a direct effect of consciousness on the cognitive aspects of political empowerment, but no effect on its behavioral component. This supports the assumptions of empowerment theory and suggests a need for a more complex understanding of this concept. Five tables and two figures present study findings. (Contains 38 references.) (Author/SLD)